No such thing as a free lunch… or is there?

I don’t know about a free lunch, but I’ve recently started to acquire a large number of free samples from companies who are willing to send their products directly to my house. In fact, I was surprised to find how much free stuff is really out there for grabs! I don’t like to spend a lot of time searching for freebies, but there are a number of sites that post sample announcements for you. Some that I’ve tried flop badly or are frustrating to use, while others have been quite a success.

So, why would I bring something like this up to an audience ready to learn about preparedness? That’s simple. Doing so helps you prepare for free! And them being free isn’t the only positive aspect of doing this! The samples that come are packaged individually so you don’t have to open your whole supply at once and the food/nutritional products even have expiration labels on them so they can be integrated into your preparedness supplies! Plus, who doesn’t like free stuff!

Every once in a while, I find a site that is not only practical, but it’s well built and doesn’t have a lot of spam. The site I use right now is http://www.weheartfreebies.com/. I will start by saying there are four things to know about the website (and most freebie websites):

You need to sign up with an e-mail address and password. Not too threatening, but I didn’t want you to be surprised when you got there. To log in each time, just click on a freebie link and a popup will ask you to sign in. My Firefox browser fills ‘em in for me.

The freebies aren’t automatic. What the web owner does is post about items that she’s found. You have to follow her link and go to each website. The freebie giver typically asks for name, address, e-mail address and phone number. Some are Facebook sites you “Like” to get access to their freebies. So you kind of “pay” by advertising your “Like” on your Facebook page. I have gone back and “unliked” sites after a few days and it hasn’t affected my freebies.

The freebies can take anywhere from 3-12 weeks to arrive and they’ll usually tell you that. Just remember… they’re FREE. My favorite part is forgetting what I signed up for and then coming home in the evening to find that I have a bunch of packages. Who doesn’t like opening boxes?!

Some are only good for one per household. Others though are one per customer. So if more than one member of your household is requesting freebies, don’t be surprised if your household already requested one.

I signed up in November, and by the photo, you can see that it’s been worth my 20-30 minutes a week to sign up for things. I do have the website open as one of my home tabs when I open my web browser, but I am not checking it every day and I’m not signing up for things I wouldn’t use. For example, we don’t have pets, so I don’t sign up for the free cat and dog food and I don’t sign up for coupons/freebies for restaurants that aren’t in my area.

On 8 February, I also signed up for a lot of freebies and coupons at http://www.pgeveryday.com. There was everything from samples of toothpastes and detergent to coupons for mouthwash and shampoo! I use a number of P&G products, so it really hit my fancy. I’m looking forward to getting that box of goodies in four to six weeks.

On a final note, if you are on Pinterest, I would recommend searching for “free samples” every once in a while. You never know what everyone else out there is finding. Plus, the point of getting free samples is to not be spending hours trying to get those free items – work smarter, not harder.

I will keep you updated as I continue on with www.weheartfreebies.com and try new sites recommended by our readers.